A Day In The Life

Do your days follow a routine?  Mine do in the sense that I work the same shifts at the laundromat each week, but the before and the after are usually unpredictable.

Friday

7:45 a.m. – Wake up, let the dogs outside and feed them some breakfast.  Peek into the whelping box to make sure everyone is A-OK and then head back upstairs to get myself presentable.

8:15 a.m. – Out the door and on my way to snag some deals before morning deliveries!  I noticed that Walgreens had a few of our favorite cereals on sale this week 2/$5 with a $1 in store coupon.  I had a coupon for $0.60 off a box of Trix and $0.60 off a box of Honey Nut Cheerios.  That means I got both boxes for$2.80….holla!

8:20 a.m. – I am on the road for morning deliveries.  But not without my precious….

Oops, I mean…

Our Friday deliveries are sort of scattered, so I was on a self-guided Tour de Pittsburgh:  North Huntingdon, Forest Hills, Wilkinsburg, Shadyside, Bloomfield, the Strip, and then finally Downtown!  Phew!

10:15 a.m. – I finally get back to Changin’ Time and drop off all the things.  Amanda tells me that since DR stayed home from school today, she is able to stay until noon. Music to my ears!  Normally I report for duty at 11:00 a.m., so I am pleased to have an extra hour to myself.  I visit my darling at the rental to check on progress.  The windows are almost completely installed now!  We still need to paint the awnings/gutters grey and cover up the wretched black and gold paint job….

11:00 a.m. – I head to the house to pack my lunch and let my fur babies run around in the back alley for a few minutes.  The weather has been a little rotten the last few days, so they needed to get out some pent-up energy!  I also use the time to scavenge around the “Paper Retriever” at the borough building to see if there are any coupons dying to be clipped. It’s a little low so I’m nervous to jump in because what if I get stuck!?  How would I explain to the officers, who would no doubt walk out of the police station at that exact moment, that yes I am stuck in a paper dumpster and my dogs are wandering around outside wondering what the heck I am doing.

11:30 a.m. – I feel guilty for squandering one of Amanda’s hours dumpster diving, so I head to Changin’ Time to relieve her.  Lil’ RED desperately needs a nap and DR is going a bit stir crazy, so I’m glad I headed in earlier than noon.  Once they head home, I finish washing diapers and notice that the detergent dispenser is getting low.

Then I hang out with some traveling carnies who are in town for the weekend and stopped in to do their laundry.  Oh, life.  How random you are.

12:30 p.m. – I dial into a conference call for a trade association we belong to.  Since I am vice-chair, this is one of four conference calls I attend each month.  We discuss all kind of important diaper industry happenings, none of which I can tell you about! 

1:30 p.m. – I finally have time to enjoy a banana, a bottle of water, and some Feedly.  After the carnies clear out, I sort and dry and then re-sort diapers.  Then, move onto some of our wash ‘n fold customers and other diaper business.

3:45 p.m. – I quickly speed up the road into Munhall, the neighboring borough, to grab my on-call phone from the senior care place I work every other weekend.  I am basically the weekend answering service/caregiver coordinator.  Since its a holiday weekend, I will be pulling an extra long shift (Friday evening – Tuesday morning).  I chit chat with the office staff and owner about the doodles and random happenings with clients.

Once I got back to Changin’ Time, she told me that our plans to babysit were cancelled!  I am happy in the sense that we have Friday night free, but a little disappointed because we have so much fun when we hang out with her brothers (CO & CJ).  I spent the rest of my shift preparing for an early morning diaper service orientation and wrapped up some administrative stuff.

6:00 p.m. – My favorite time of the day.  Not what I would call quitting time, but certainly time to head back to the house(s).  Most days I walk to and from work, since we live just around the corner.  This becomes less convenient when its snowing, slushy, super hot, or raining, but the weather was perfect.

After work I stopped at home really quickly to grab a power snack that would actually be my dinner…

and then went over and “helped” Christina clean up the rental so that we could show it to a prospective tenant at 7:30 p.m.  The woman was very nice and showed up with a little group of friends to help her decide what she wanted to do.  She seemed to love the place and after about a half an hour decided to mention that she wouldn’t be able to move in until August.  Womp womp.

8:00 p.m. – We swung back around to close the laundromat.  Changin’ Time wash ‘n fold closes at 6:00 p.m., but the laundromat stays open for self-service until 8:00 p.m.  Then, since there was still some daylight I convinced Christina to help me dumpster dive for coupons.

Yes, I know I am insane.  But the savings!  Think of the savings!  I returned home happy with my efforts and clipped coupons while Christina had puppy time.

10:00 p.m. – I finally had time to sit down and write this recap!  Now I am going to relax for an hour or so and then head to bed because tomorrow promises to be even more busy and random than today!!!

Garden Shmarden.

Around the same time every year, I get the urge to garden.  An all-consuming desire to grow my own food.  There are several problems that seem to arise:

1.  I have three dogs, one of whom loves to urinate on every single thing he can in the yard and sometimes even hoist is back end up to poop ON things.  Like a tree.  Or a bush.  Or the fence.  A few years ago, his favorite yard activity was to sneak behind my compost fence and eat the compost.  The point is that even raised beds aren’t going to cut it. Neither is a screen.

2.  I can’t keep a plant alive to save my life.  I forget to water.  I don’t water at all.  I over water.  I drown.  I bake.  I fry.  I killed aloe.  The only thing plant I’ve kept alive is a cactus for 3 years.  I left it in my closet and never watered it.  Apparently I couldn’t break its spirit.

3.  This is the lazy girl in me talking, but I feel like I don’t have the energy to keep up with it.  With the weeding.  The watering.  The digging.  I don’t even like to get dirty.  Between my business, my rental, my own house, whelping puppies, race training, and my duties with my trade association….really?   Gardening?

Am I just being lazy?  Yes.  Do I need to learn more about keeping plants alive?  Yes. Do I need to plan some dog-proof solutions? Yes.  Am I going to garden this year?  No.  Its the same vicious cycle every year, I swear.  I know that if its something I really want to make happen, I just have to implement some kind of plan for next year.  So, like any Type A personality, I have slowly been crafting a master plan for 2014.

Phase 1:

Get back on the compost wagon.  The sooner we start our compost pile back up, the sooner we will have wonderful organic fertilizer.

Begin the hoarding process of containers.  I think that container gardening might be a partial solution for my dog problems, but right now we don’t have anything to plant in.

Think of awesome project name because….duh.

One day I check my yard every hour to determine when the sun hits at what time of day.  I feel like that will be important at some point.  Also, I need to educate myself on which veggies thrive in what conditions (Certain parts of my yard are in full shade while the other half is full sun.  What is partial shade?).

Sixteen Days

It has been sixteen days since 10 little labradoodles appeared in my living room.

I haven’t really talked too much about whelping here because…well just because.  But, it seems like you guys really love seeing pictures of the doodle-brains so I will try to a few updates.  I will try to write one every two weeks for the 8-10 weeks before they go to their forever homes.

May 5:

The day of the Pittsburgh Marathon, Cinco de Mayo, and the doodles birthday!  It was the day we hoped and thought the doodles would come.  (Dogs have a fairly typical gestation period – around 60 days.  Based on our calculations, she would have been 60 days on Monday.)  We knew that Hallie was in labor based on a few things:  she was digging around in the bedding of the whelping box, she was panting off and on, and she was having visible contractions (her skin was twitching).  The first doodle didn’t actually appear in the living room, but in the bedroom closet, around 4 a.m.  Long story.  We were elated to find out that he had white tipped paws and a white bow tie coloring.  In 45 minutes, she had 4 more all-black puppies.  Everybody was doing latching well and doing great, including mum!  Around 7 p.m. that night, she pushed out the afterbirth and we were please with our 8 puppies.  Then, about an hour later another puppy started crowning.  Not good.  We went into triage mode at that point because he had been in there for about an hour with no amniotic fluids.  He about gave us a heart attack because he was so lethargic at first, but he ended up being fine.  The following day, a giant puppy was still born.  We are pretty sure that she was so big she got stuck.

Despite losing a puppy, Hallie was a rockstar.  I kept joking that she was a Scientologist because she delivered those puppies so quietly, with such ease that she didn’t even make a peep.  She is a natural.  (This is significant because Liberty, our lab, is not a natural.  In fact, I think she would prefer waterboarding to whelping.)

May 12 – Week One:

Hallie is still rocking the motherhood role.  Everybody seems to be adjusting fine except for one.  He’s looking malnourished, not putting on weight.  Although he does latch on and seems to eat until he falls asleep, we are worried that he’s not getting enough.  His brothers and sisters have doubled their birth weight, yet he is half their size.  We are putting sugar syrup on his tongue hoping to give him more energy to nurse.  His temperature is low.  So, we keep him either under a heat lamp or on a heating pad set to low to try and raise his temp.  We begin dropper feeding him using powdered Esbilac Goat Milk Formula reconstituted with sugar water.  He seems to perk up for a few days, putting on just a few ounces of weight.

May 19 – Week Two:

On Saturday, May 18th at 4:00 a.m. the very first labradoodle,with the little white tipped feet and the white bow tie, passes away in Christina’s hands.  He just didn’t have any fight left in him.  There was nothing more that we could provide him.  “Parti Boy,” as we affectionately referred to him, was the first puppy that we had ever had fade.  Fading puppy syndrome is the diagnosis given to a puppy that fails to thrive.  A full-term preemie who never develops the strength to live without intervention.  We are both devastated to lose him, Christina moreso because she is the one who got up with him through the night to patiently nurse him.  She is so nurturing and has such a big heart, she took his loss pretty hard.  Hallie hasn’t really been affected  by his absence and neither have the other doodles, which is a good thing.

 

And now, 8 healthy and growing labradoodles continue on their first and best adventure.

Race Recap: John Thompson Memorial 5K

On Saturday, May 18th 2013 I finished my second 5K.

And y’all, it was h-a-r-d hard.

Let me start at the beginning, though, as it is a very good place to start.

Around 4 a.m. on Saturday morning, Christina woke up to bottle feed the little fading puppy.  He was not doing well at all and he unfortunately passed away in her hands around 4:30 a.m.  We were both feeling devastated, but I forced myself back to sleep because I knew I needed to rest up.  I had intended to get up around 6 a.m. but instead we snoozed the alarms until around 7 a.m.  We were out the door by 7:15 a.m. and on the road.  The race took place an hour and 15 minutes away at my high school, Neshannock Jr/Sr High School.

It was weird pulling into that parking lot for the first time in 11 years.  We arrived about 20 minutes prior to start time, so I hurriedly put my race bib and chip on and hit the bathroom.  Then, I found my people near the concession stand:  Christina, my mom, my sister, my brother, and my sister’s boyfriend were all huddled around talking.  I scanned the crowd, relieved that I didn’t recognize a single person.  I stretched out as we examined the race map.  The cross country trail is not something that I even knew existed when I attended school at NHS.  With the passing of one of our beloved biology teachers and cross-country coaches, Mr. Thompson (who we all lovingly called Mr. T), the school district breathed new life into the old trail.  They now host this annual 5K race in his honor.

As we lined up at the starting line, I hung near the back of the crowd with my sister and her group of friends.  My brother was lost in the crowd, hanging close to the cross country kids.

I was glad to be out of ear shot of the current cross country coach, who gave a speech to all the runners.  My mom and Christina told me afterwards that he was explaining how difficult the course was, with plenty of hills and winding, newly mulched trails.  He even said something like: “This is a difficult race, don’t expect to beat your 5K PR today.”   I’m glad I missed that reality check because I probably would’ve used it as an excuse not to push myself.

The horn blew and people started moving!  We started near the entrance to the football stadium and ran towards the high school.  Then, we made a loop around this big grassy field where the sports teams sometimes practice.  It was really surreal for me, running on the outside of windows which I used to stare out of. We looped back around to the starting line (below) and then ran past it, behind the field and entered the trail.

As soon as my feet hit the grass, I got a little worried.  Pretty different than the concrete which I’m used to.  I was relieved that the trail was entirely in the shade as it wound through the woods.  There was more winding than I thought was even possible.  I had no idea the woods were that deep!

As we entered the trail head,  I could’ve sworn that I was in the middle of a pack.  But then, as I started running I realized that I was completely alone in the woods.  I had a few minutes where I freaked out, worried that I had fallen behind significantly and hadn’t noticed.  Was I in last place?!  Calm down, you’re fine.  

During mile 1, I just decided to relax and enjoy my solo run through the woods.  There were a decent amount of hills during the first mile.  I ran up the hills in short quick steps and cheered myself on down every hill, catching short glimpses of runners brightly colored shirts in the distance.  I was thankful that no one caught up to me!

When I got to the aid station, I was worried.  It felt like I had been running a heck of a lot longer than I actually was.  I actually tried to run through the aid station, which was a first for me.  I think a few tablespoons made it into my mouth, but the rest was down the front of my shirt.  It cooled me down, so no complaints!

After the first aid station, the course sort of flattened out.  While I was thankful for the flatness, this was about the time I started feeling really strained from the newly mulched trail I was running on.  At one point right before the mile 2 marker, I started walking.  It felt like I was sinking into the ground, not quite as much as walking on sand.  I decided I would exert less energy if I just kept jogging because my feet wouldn’t touch the ground as much.  So that’s what I did.

Right after I passed the mile 2 trail marker, I passed up a slow moving cross country boy.  That made me feel awesome!  Then, around mile 2.5 I passed up 2 more!  Booyahhhhh.  The course looped back around and then you hit the same water station, but from the opposite side.  This time, I slowed down and drank all the water.  Exactly what I needed!

When I emerged from the trail, I could see Christina and my mom waiting for a glimpse of me.  I knew I was almost to the finish line.  Now, I had to run parallel to the football field, around the end zone and into the fence.  To get to the finish line, you had to run 3/4 lap around the track.

Of course, my little race buddy was waiting for me!

At one point he said to me: “Let’s sprint it out!” and I thought “Um, little dude, I am going as fast as my legs can carry me!“  I finished in 39:13, about 3 minutes shy of my current PR.  I remember glancing up at the race clock as I neared it and feeling disappointed.  I ran more than I had in the Ole 5K and damn it if I hadn’t pushed myself harder.  I mean, I felt exhausted.

Then, Christina and my mom came up and gave me a hug and told me how good I did.  I didn’t beat my previous time, I told them.  Then, Christina told me what the coach said at the starting line.  The difficulty level of this course was much higher than the one I had run in May!  When I heard that, I felt really great about my time.  I may not have set a new PR, but I was pretty darn close to at least matching it!

Not too shabby for my first trail RUN, let alone trail RACE.

After the race, I grabbed a banana and a blueberry Nutrigrain bar and collapsed in the grass.  Once I felt like I had recovered a little, I forced my family to take pictures with me because guess what:  it is also the day I graduated with my masters!  I skipped the commencement ceremony to run the race, so we had to get a few choice pics.

I promise, they actually do love me.

Then, we packed up and headed back to Pittsburgh.  About 15 minutes later, my mom called me.

“Guess what I just did?” she laughed.  “Um, just picked up your third place medal!”

I could tell by the tone in her voice that she wasn’t joking, but I didn’t understand.  She told me that I placed third in my age group!!

Not in a million years did I even expect that. To the point that I was all ready on the interstate by the time they announced my name!  That made not setting a new PR feel like no big.  I’ll take it!!  My very first medal ever. In my life.  In 29 years of living without a trophy or medal or athletic accomplishment.  Ironically in the place where I would’ve won a trophy had I been involved with anything.  Its funny how life works, huh?

Here are some of my final thoughts on the details of the John Thompson Memorial 5K:

PRICE:  $20 which benefitted the NHS cross country team.  In addition to a really nice shirt (as far as race shirts go), we got swag bags with random goodies.  I don’t know how I would’ve lived without the Giant Eagle jar opener or the Avon bubble bath or the sweet Noga Ambulance water bottle.  But, stuff is stuff and it was free!

PARKING:  Parking was in the stadium parking lot, obviously free and plentiful.

PRE-RACE/POST-RACE GRUB:  The concession stand at the football field was jam-packed with goodies:  Dunkin Donuts bagels and donut holes, bananas, apples, oranges, NutriGrain bars, and candy galore.  I grabbed another NutriGrain bar for the road.

TIMING:  The race was chip timed by SmileyMiles.com and the results were posted within a day or two.

WEATHER:  Gorgeous.  It was mild, in the late 70s.  Since the race was primarily in the shade, I wasn’t effected at all by the heat.  The blue skies sure didn’t hurt, though!

Sum Up Sunday

This week was pathetic.

No, really.

But, then it was kind of awesome.

After taking 6 days 12 days off of my training plan to birth some puppies and complain about sleep deprivation, I was more than a little worried.  See, I have had this habit in the past of attempting to build some kind of running base and then losing motivation for a few months.  I’ve basically had to start from scratch more times than I care to count or share with y’all.  So, on Wednesday, it was clear that I had to hit the pavement to make sure I wasn’t going to die during my 5K on Saturday see what I was made of.  Turns out, I’m made of pure grit baby!

I knew I couldn’t mess around with a little 2 mile teaser, I had to really push myself.  Especially since I was terrified that the Transit would come around the corner blasting more tough love and inspiration.  I couldn’t stand the thought of being caught taking a walking break while the inspo-wagon was on duty.  That’s like a Biggest Loser casting video waiting to happen.  So I switched up my route and busted out 2.5 miles at a pretty decent pace (12:01 mile) considering my lapse in exercise.

Then, on Thursday morning I pumped it up even more to 2.92 miles at a 12:07 pace.  I knew I was going to be running a farther distance, so I intentionally ran a bit more conservatively.  And guess what?  I was only about a minute off of my 5K PR and only .28 miles off.

FINALLY. FINALLY, I have built up enough of a base that I am able to basically pick up where I left off.  FINALLY.  Not that I plan on taking 6-12 days away again.  But it feels so damn good to know I’m making progress.

I know that’s right, y’all!

Source: Tumblr

On Friday, I gave myself the day off to recover and rest before race day.

Saturday was race day!  I’m not going to say much except for that you can read the full recap on Monday.

So here we are, another weekly summary.  I’m now officially turning the corner and adventuring out of the safety of 5K-land and into to the minor leagues!  (I’m making this up as I go, but I’m pretty sure we can consider 10Ks minor league and half marathons major league, right?)